Ken Booth, known as Block to his team, has been a triathlete and runner for most of his sporting days. Somewhere along the lines Diesel had a hand in converting him and bringing him over to the dirt side. He had his first few mountain bike rides later in the 2013 season and decided in 2014 he would give racing a try. But actually having to do something on the bike other than pedal it as fast as he could in a straight line was very foreign to him. But like most two wheeled warriors he took his licks and kept the wheels spinning and did very well in his class making the podium at every race but one.
Recently our Street Team reporter, Chicken Bone, caught up with him after one of Block's off season vacations for a quick sit down chat:
CB - What moved you to come to the world of mountain biking? I met Diesel through Mrs Diesel a while back and he talked me into coming out and giving it a whirl. Mountain biking is an endurance sport and I liked the idea of another challenge as I find endurance sports such as triathlon, road cycling and running right up my alley.
CB - What was your biggest surprise making the move from the clean world of triathlons to the dirty, gritty, messy world of mountain biking? The difficulty of the terrain that is traversed. Triathlon is determined almost entirely by physical fitness whereas mountain biking requires a combination of handling skills and physical fitness. In the beginner category, my fitness was better than most of the other competitors but my handling was much worse – made for some interesting races.
CB - Describe what it's like hanging out with the team on race day? The team is fun, great mix of characters. Unfortunately, since most of the team raced Expert last year and I was in Beginner, it meant that I raced much after the rest of the team at all but one of the races. Hopefully this year in Sport (CAT 2) I will have some company. Yeah I am talking to you Gerry and Mike!
CB - Was your first race anything like you thought it would be? Not really! While I had pre-rode the course several times, I had never ridden, let along raced, in the rain and mud at high speed. I was very ill prepared for the conditions.
CB - Out of all the races you have done, which was your favorite and why? Stony Marathon. It was really cool in that I went back and forth with several riders throughout the race and ultimately pulled ahead of them to take 3rd. It was also a race that challenged me from both a handling and fitness standpoint (due to the length).
CB - What was the most important thing you learned your rookie season? To shift my weight around on the bike depending on the situation. In triathlon, you get in your aero tuck and stay there.
CB - Going into your sophomore season as a mountain bike racer, what are your goals? Two things. One, to continue to work on my bike handling skills. Until those improve, I am not going to accomplish much. Two, convince Brian to shave his legs. I mean really, the guy is a CAT-1 who has these ambitions to race Leadville and he doesn't even shave his legs. I am not sure he understands what this sport really entails.
CB - Have you ever seen any animals while riding? Standard stuff – squirrels, deer, small birds. One time I thought I saw a wild pack of beagles during a very strenuous training ride, but I may have been hallucinating. Jury is still out on that one. I have never been fortunate enough to see something really cool like Rhodan, which stopped and stared down Diesel at the TFR last year. But he needs to face his fears about that. I think the team would have podiumed for sure if he wouldn't have froze up on the trail. It cost the guys valuable time.
CB - What was the most awkward ride you have ever been on? My first race, Pontiac, in 2013. With all the rain and mud, I fell quite a few times. Two were somewhat spectacular. First, I fell onto the front wheel of another rider, taking that rider and the rider behind down with me. Second, later in the race, I launched superman style off my bike when I tried to make a sudden turn in some pretty deep mud. It really surprised me how far back I had to go to get my bike!
CB - What's the best joke you have every heard? Everyone else on the team is an engineer….……
